While the shooting has received scant mainstream media attention following the initial breaking news, the incident marks yet another shooting in the U.S. and falls under a long line of gun-related attacks just this year alone—including the Pulse nightclub shooting nearly one year earlier in Orlando. It is emblematic of the high rates of gun violence in this country, making the U.S. an outlier from the rest of the world with more than 33,000 annual gun deaths, according to FiveThirtyEight.

One of the reasons why the U.S. sees so many mass shootings and gun-related deaths such as the one in Orlando this week lies largely in how states regulate—or don’t regulate—gun control. Gun laws and the regulation of guns are primarily created at the state level, giving legislators ultimate discretion in shaping the selling, distribution and usage of guns in their state.

Florida, in particular, has lax gun laws that make it easy for people in the state to purchase firearms, prompting the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence to give the state an F rating for its gun laws. For one, the state constitution affirms a citizen’s right to bear arms and own a gun. In addition, Florida does not require background checks before the transfer of a firearm between private parties, license firearm owners, require firearms to be registered nor a permit to purchase firearms, regulate assault weapons or limit the number of firearms that are purchased at one time. Because of these soft gun laws, statistics show that there are about 16.1 registered guns per 1,000 adults in Florida.

The ease with which people in Florida can obtain a gun likely played a role in Monday’s tragic shooting, as well as last June’s mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, which became the deadliest mass shooting in modern history. And because of the state’s relaxed gun laws, the gun death rate is about 11.9 deaths per 100,000 people.

Although many Republicans believe that having less gun control and allowing people more access to guns will keep people safer, the data show a different picture. Data from the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence concluded that states with weaker gun laws saw higher gun death rates than those with strong gun regulation, and the 10 states with the lowest gun death rates were seen to have the strongest gun laws.

It is still too early to determine if this recent shooting will galvanize the public and politicians to revisit the need for stronger gun control legislation. However, gun legislation being considered in the Florida legislature for 2017 seeks to help expand gun ownership and weaken gun control regulation even more.

For instance, the bill SB 140, introduced by Sen. Greg Steube (R), would allow for the open carrying of handguns by the 1.7 million people who are concealed weapons permit-holders. The bill would also allow for the carrying of guns in courthouses, airport passenger terminals, legislative meetings, public college and university campuses, career centers and elementary and secondary schools across the state—a wide expansion of the places guns can be carried and potentially used. Another bill, SB 908, would eliminate gun-free zones that currently exist in Florida, which includes police, sheriff or highway patrol stations; jails and prisons; courthouses; polling places; establishments that serve alcohol; and school, college or professional athletic events.

Celisa Calacal is a junior writing fellow for AlterNet. She is a senior journalism major and legal studies minor at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York. Previously she worked at ThinkProgress and served as an editor for Ithaca College’s student newspaper. Follow her at @celisa_mia.